The Physician and the Prince
by cinderpelt12323
Summary: K to be safe. Loki is once again wounded and the Palace Physician thinks on his well-being. Loki-centric with mentions of Thor and Odin. ONE-SHOT. Completed. All characters, except the Physician belong to Marvel. As far as I'm aware, the Physician is mine.


Loki stormed into his chambers, the gash in his arm bleeding. He sat down on his chair and called for the palace physician. He'd lost yet another challenge with Thor and once again, he was going to have a scar from it.

"My Lord, the physician is here." His servant told him.

"Well don't just stand there with him outside, bring him in. Quickly." Loki replied. The physician entered and the servant left.

"Again, Lord Loki?" He asked. Loki scowled in reponse and the physician readied his supplies. "I regret to inform you, Lord Loki, that I will need to sew this closed."

"Do what you must." Loki sighed and took the glass of wine when it was handed to him. He drank it quickly and asked for another. His request was granted and he drank the second just as quickly as the first.

"Bite on this my Lord." Loki took the leather strap and put it between his teeth. "Are you prepared Lord Loki?"

Loki nodded and the physician began. The reaction from the Dark Prince was almost instant, he winced first, then began to bite on the strap. By the third stitch, he was screaming and biting on the strap so hard, the physician was half expecting him to bite the strap in half. It didn't take too much longer and Loki had collapsed, slumping over in his chair, the strap falling from his teeth. The physician looked at the Prince of Asgard. Few knew that Loki was truly the elder of Odin's sons. He and Thor were very close in age, but when the crown was promised to Thor, it led to the assumption of many that Thor was the elder son. He knew of Loki's true heratige, but he was among the select few that knew. Even Thor didn't know. Loki was only a month older and it showed. Loki was tall and slender, wise and cunning in battle. He was a skilled magician and, though he was a trickster, he'd never done anything to have the trust of his friends and family sway. Now, Thor challenged Loki to fight almost weekly. Most weeks the wounds the Dark Prince received were treatable without stitches, but the physician knew full well that Loki had more scars than he deserved and many had been given to him by his own brother. The physician had told Loki many times that it was unwise to continue accepting these challenges and Loki had simply thrown him from the room and shut the door. He knew he should not give advice to the Prince, but he felt it was his duty as the palace physician to try and prevent harm from coming to either of the Prince's or the Royal Family.

He made sure the Prince was still asleep and when he saw that the Prince was leaning all the way over the arm of his chair, he placed a hand on his chest and pushed him upright with his head leaning on the back of the chair. The physician had a suspicion that this was the only time the Prince ever looked at peace. When Loki was awake, he was more often than not either looking over his shoulder for Thor or standing in Thor's shadow while Odin taught them how to rule and trained them for battle. Sleep must mean peace for him.

The physician finished his work and cleaned as much of the dried blood off the wound as possible and bound it with clean linen. Before he left, the physician debated on whether or not to wake the Prince and let him know his work was done and he'd be back every day for a week to make sure there was no infection. He woke the Prince gently.  
"My Lord?" The physician gently shook the Prince out of his slumber.

"Is your work finished?" He asked the physician upon waking. "Yes, Lord Loki." The physician replied.

"I trust I will be seeing you for the next week?" Loki knew how this worked by now.

"Yes, my Lord." Loki half nodded in his direction. "Very well. But I have, and I mean no disrespect, seen quite enough of you today. Farewell, physician." With that, Loki stood and walked to the doors leading out to a small balcony.

"Farewell, my Lord."

Author's Note: This is just sort of a one-shot about what the palace physician would probably have to say about Loki. I imagine the physician has probably tended to Loki's battle scars too many times, in his mind anyway. So this is how I think the physician would see Loki. Loki, Thor and Odin belong to Marvel. Only the physician is my character. 


End file.
